How One 1969 LSD Scare Film Kickstarted the Vegetarian Craze

The 1960s was a decade of rampant hysteria demonizing recreational drug consumption. Much of that frenzy was government fueled and funded, but corporate forces also pitched in to amplify the mania.

For instance, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation funded this three-and-a-half-minute film, titled Case Study LSD, in 1969. Presumably, Case Study LSD was produced with the intention of scaring impressionable young adults away from the pitfalls of the psychedelic menace.

Aside from depicting chemically induced mood enhancement in a hokey and alarmist light, the film's masterminds added heavy doses of blatant subliminal anti-sex messaging to Case Study LSD: A pot-addled but otherwise innocent young lady drops acid. She places a fat wiener (the phallic connotations cannot be overlooked) slathered in mustard and catchup to her mouth. The hotdog speaks to her, begging not to be bitten, chewed, or swallowed. The girl freaks out. [Spoiler, I know.]

Upon viewing today, more than four decades in the future, the persisting emotional trauma of Case Study LSD all emanates from that talking hotdog. While very little actual proof exists to draw any conclusions (about as much factual basis as the scare flicks of the 1960s relied upon), clearly the rush to vegetarianism during the 1970s traces directly back to Case Study LSD.

Cows, pigs, chickens, and hotdogs the world over have Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to thank.